Successful private practices are always innovating, from offering new treatments and services to using the latest technology to provide a great patient experience. The best practice management solutions move with the times too to help practices adapt to new challenges and work more effectively.

In recent years, we’ve continually introduced new tools and features to our secure ePractice solution including Guideline Pricing and Online Payments as part of our mission to automate time-consuming admin tasks. 

Now we’re going much further with the next generation of ePractice – a more powerful solution that delivers big performance improvements, a brighter and more intuitive user interface and is bursting with new features. It’s a complete transformation which we’re rolling out step-by-step so we can ensure customers can easily use the system and make the most of the functionality.

ePractice Appointments is now live and you’ll be able to access it once you’ve logged in from your Healthcode Account. This is available on all ePractice plans – simply select Appointments from the menu. Basic users can upgrade to Lite or Pro to enjoy all the features.

The first thing you’ll notice is that the new Appointments is brighter, clearer and easier to use than before but the change is more than cosmetic. We’re giving you the tools to manage your diary, your way:

• Set up one-off and recurring clinic sessions at multiple locations
• Show when you’re unavailable and set aside time for admin or meetings
• Send appointment confirmations by text or email
• Show key information for appointments, eg any outstanding balance or warning notes

What’s more, soon you’ll be able to take your diary management into another dimension by publishing information about your sessions and availability on ICE, our new integrated channel exchange, which is revolutionising real-time appointment booking for the private healthcare sector.

Subscribing to ICE means you’re in control. You can decide which appointment slots will be visible to thousands of prospective patients via hospital, insurer and other booking sites and you can choose to accept online bookings for free appointment slots – and your diary will update automatically. You’ll need a subscription and an up-to-date PPR profile (contact us if you need support).

This is just the start of an exciting journey that will transform the ePractice experience and we’re sure that you’ll enjoy the ride – watch this space for updates.

Discover more

Check out our guides on Appointments or book a one-to-one session with one of our friendly Healthcode Academy experts to discover what’s new or contact our Customer Service team if you need more support.

If you’d like to see what ePractice could do for your business or you’re interested in seeing what you’d get by upgrading from your current plan, why not book a demo or speak to our Business Development team who can help you make a choice that’s right for you.

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These patients are certain to be impressed by the quality of care and advanced treatments available, but a reliable and efficient online booking process is one part of the journey that’s been missing.

We’re putting that right, inspired by the technology that transformed the travel sector.

Believe it or not, booking a holiday used to be a stressful business. Agents, phone calls and long waits to confirm your reservation. The game-changer proved to be a Global Distribution System (GDS), a central hub which enabled different service providers to exchange information about services and availability in real time. This brought order to the chaos and dramatically improved the booking experience for everyone who could go online and make their own travel arrangements.

We wanted the same for private healthcare, while ensuring everyone could be confident in the high levels of data security that we build into all our products. ICE – our integrated channel exchange – is the GDS uniting the sector to deliver real-time online appointment booking. Put simply, ICE allows anyone offering healthcare services to share them with anyone who wants to search for them. It works like this:

Access: Everyone who wants to use ICE can do so through our flexible Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) based on the internationally recognised FHIR (Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources) messaging standards. This enables different booking sites to connect to multiple diaries through just a single interface.

Book: Information about services and appointment availability is shared in real time with the booking websites so users can use their preferred site to search for an available slot, using a range of search criteria such as specialty, location, time and service type. Bookings can be made 24/7.

Sync: Once the appointment is booked, the diary owner’s software synchronises the information removing the possibility of double-bookings.

Why sign up?

ICE brings compelling benefits whether you’re a practitioner, practice or clinic, hospital or insurer.  At a time when more people are considering private healthcare, it makes sense to have a central booking solution that’s smooth, convenient, efficient and secure. ICE makes this a reality – fantastic for patients who want access to great care and excellent news for the long-term prospects of our sector.

It was our technology, data and expertise that enabled us to start this booking revolution. Is it time for you to join us? 

Discover More

To find out how ICE, our online appointment booking solution, can transform your booking process, contact our Business Development team.

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Our Managing Director, Peter Connor, explains how our central appointment booking system could make the transformation that the healthcare industry has been waiting for.

You may remember the situation a few decades ago when booking holidays was a time-consuming and complicated affair. Most people left it to travel agents to make the multiple calls needed to check availability, hold seats and then confirm reservations. But this was costly for the travel and tourism sector in terms of staff resources and missed opportunities.

Industry bosses turned to technology to bring order to the chaos. The real game-changer proved to be a Global Distribution System (GDS). This allowed different service providers to exchange information about services and availability in real-time through a central hub. Bringing GDS into the travel sector transformed the booking experience for people. Now they could view the latest options online and book flights and hotels themselves.

There are clear parallels between the travel industry back then and the private healthcare sector now. Most booking processes are inefficient, fragmented, prone to failures and detract from the patient experience. Different providers (practitioners, hospitals and insurers) can’t exchange real-time information about availability. This carries the risk of double booking or wasted slots – ultimately opportunities for growth are missed.

Our appointment booking solution

We know that patients expect to be able to access healthcare services online. However, live booking is relatively rare in the private sector. Even where it exists it often requires human intervention.

We know that a central appointment booking system can transform private healthcare as it did for the travel and hospitality sectors. We’ve started to develop our own bespoke version for the sector. Put simply, our GDS-based appointment booking solution acts as a hidden engine room. One that’s capable of powering the process for private healthcare.

This is how it works:

1. Providers (practitioners, clinics and hospitals) link ICE through an Application Programming Interface (API). This enables them to connect their diaries with multiple different booking sites with just a single interface
2. You publish information about your services and synchronise appointment availability through ICE. This information is shared in real-time with the booking websites so users can see exactly what’s available
3. Bookings can be made using the site of their choice to search for an available slot. There’s the potential to have a range of search criteria such as specialty, location, time or service type. Once users book an appointment, this information is transmitted in real-time and their appointment is automatically made

Benefits

Our solution has significant benefits for the sector – and for your business:

Standards-based – We’ve built the solution to meet stringent FHIR (Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources, published by HL7) data exchange and messaging standards. These have previously been implemented by the NHS for its Electronic Referrals System (ERS).

Efficient – A truly automated and seamless booking process completely removes the need for human intervention to check and confirm booking slots.

Accurate – The availability of appointments is synchronised in real time removing the possibility of double booking.

Improve patient experience – The booking experience is smoother and far unlikely to fail. Patients will have the reassurance of being able to make an appointment there and then – at a convenient time and location. Patient details are automatically collected at the outset. Resulting in a far more personalised service.

Attract more patients – You can link to many different booking sites, extending your potential reach. This comes at a time when NHS waiting times are prompting more people to look at private health services.

Quick and easy to implement – It’s only necessary to build one interface to our solution to reach multiple booking sites. This avoids the costly and time-consuming process to build interfaces to each one.

Flexible – As well as linking to third-party booking sites, you can build your own branded front-end booking service. Make the connection between your brand and great service.

Secure – Like all of our solutions, it meets stringent information security standards. This includes end-to-end encryption to protect your sensitive data.

Scalable – There are no development costs for existing users when more practitioners, providers and booking sites link with ICE.

Increases convenience and choice – The solution will be an invisible, but revolutionary, development. Patients can search multiple healthcare organisations. They can use different criteria and filters to find the service that meets their needs (either directly or through a referring organisation).

It’s time for the private healthcare sector to learn from the travel sector and ditch the fragmented and inefficient appointment booking process that’s holding us all back. We’re proud that our innovation and online technology will make it possible to optimise the booking process and meet patient expectations.

Want to know more?

To find out how our online booking system can meet your patient expectations, contact our Business Development team.

The post Time for online appointment booking appeared first on Healthcode.

With a record number of patients now on the waiting list for NHS hospital treatment, it is probable that people who might not have previously contemplated going private will think again. Laing Buisson’s recent report into the UK Self-Pay market found evidence of heightened interest in private treatment across the country.

At the same time, the private sector cannot simply expect patients to come to them. As Laing Buisson put it: “practitioners need a compelling and attractive reason for patients to choose them and – more importantly – speak positively about their experience to friends and family.

Technology has a key role to play here, offer a high-quality level of service that will impress new patients and attract word of mouth recommendations. Here are five ways that Healthcode’s technology can help you exceed patients’ expectations:

1. Efficient appointment booking

Using the appointment functionality within ePractice, you can provide a professional and responsive service when someone calls to make an appointment.

Receptionists can instantly see which practitioners are active on a specific day across all treatment sites, as well as available slots. This means they can reserve a suitable appointment there and then, rather than having to check and call the patient back. If nothing is available at the patient’s preferred time, they can be added to a waiting list and there will be an automatic alert if the slot becomes free. Once an appointment is made, the system can generate confirmation letters, emails or texts with all the information that patients need. And when a patient presents for their appointment, their status on the system can be updated to ‘arrived’ so the practitioner is aware.

2. Choice and convenience

Other people would rather use an online booking site to research private health services and book an appointment. But until recently, central appointment booking has not been possible because there was no way to synchronise the mass of data – providers, services, practitioners and appointment slots – and the many different booking systems.

Healthcode’s online appointment booking solution, ICE, is the hidden engine room which powers the appointment booking process by enabling diverse service providers to connect and exchange information in real time. Practitioners and other providers will be able to publish their services and synchronise availability with multiple booking websites.

ICE will make private healthcare more accessible, increasing its appeal. For the first time, it will be possible to use a single booking application to search multiple healthcare organisations, using different criteria and filters to find the service that meets patients’ needs and then make an appointment at a convenient time and location.

3. Reassurance about private medical insurance

While self-pay market is growing, the majority of patients will still have private medical cover although not all will have their membership details to hand when they contact your practice.

Healthcode’s insurer membership look-up feature enables you to put patients’ minds at rest that they have valid insurance cover by matching their details against participating insurers’ databases. This simple and secure online check eliminates the need for multiple telephone calls and also ensures your practice has the correct details on its own system from the outset.

4. Ensuring continuity of care

Whether you are ordering diagnostic services, arranging for a patient to be admitted for surgery or discussing their case in a multi-disciplinary team meeting, it is essential that you provide relevant information in a timely and secure way.

Regular email is inherently insecure and should never be used to send identifiable patient information. By contrast, Healthcode’s secure messaging and file sharing services (healthDrive) are encrypted, enabling you to share sensitive information with individuals or specifically created contact groups on our global directory of practitioners, private hospitals and PMIs, without compromising patient privacy. This enables you to co-ordinate patient treatment effectively and ensure continuity of care when patients transfer to other healthcare settings.

5. Efficient invoicing

The rise in self-funded healthcare means practices need to consider how best to collect payment from patients, while patients themselves expect to be invoiced promptly and have a stress-free way to pay.

In partnership with the patientzone online payment platform, Healthcode offer a secure online patient electronic invoicing and payment service for you to charge for self-funded care and PMI shortfalls. Once signed-up with the patientzone service, you can create patient invoices in ePractice and send them through to patientzone. Patientzone then notifies patients by email or text that they have received an invoice which they can access and pay securely online. Within thirty minutes, their payment is automatically reconciled (in ePractice plans with payment recording) and you also receive notification of payment by email or text.

This online patient invoicing solution meets your data protection obligations and is more efficient than sending a paper invoice in the post. It is a more cost-effective way to implement online payment as there’s no need to arrange merchant accounts or pay credit card processing fees. Most importantly from a patient perspective, the process is seamless, secure and convenient and they have the reassurance of payment confirmation so they can focus on their recovery.

Want to know more?

Find out how our ePractice technology can help improve patient experience by contacting our Business Development team.

If you’ve already got ePractice but don’t know it’s full potential sign up for our free ePractice training modules with the Healthcode Academy’s team of Service Delivery Associates. They’ll guide you using your own data to make the training as relevant as possible.

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